The Apple iPod has done its bit to shape society over the past ten years, Not only is it a desirable gift or accessory. Its changed the way we listen to and purchase music. The most noticeable improvement the iPod / iPhone deliverers over its predecessors, is the ease and simplicity of use and instant satisfaction it delivers.

Music and applications can be downloaded instantly, negating the need to travel to a store to purchase CD singles or albums. Which except for a few people, was seen as a hindrance. No longer do we need to carry stacks of disc’s and filter through them to find an album for what ever mood were in. Put simply the iPod has revolutionised the music industry and carried it into the future, making music more accessible in our daily routines.

Many other companies have joined the music revolution in a bid to further improve the way we control and listen to our favourite albums. It has become big business, with more and more companies offering improved quality and functions for home audio and visual systems as well as car and mobile audio. One of the market leaders in the car audio field, Dension, have been developing new systems which allow full control of the iPod through the stereo and entertainment system in the vehicle.

For many the iPod symbolises mobile music, and more recently mobile entertainment with the release of the iPod touch and iPhone, and the continuing developments Apple are making in the Video and TV area. Dension have adopted this ethos of entertainment on the move and produced iPod car kits that surpass any other kit on the market in terms of quality and integration.

iPod integration is key for quality and ease of use of the kits, if they don’t match Apples exacting standards for the iPod there is no point in developing them. With this in mind Dension set about improving previous versions of iPod kits they already produced. (Which they were already market leaders) and come up with a kit that ensures great quality audio and simple easy controls. The Gateway Lite was born.

The Gateway Lite is the next step up from the Gateway 100 / Gateway 300 ipod car adapters, The lite offers a much improved navigation system which was not available on the 100 / 300 unless text compatibility was available on your vehicle. By making the system easier the Gateway Lite is much more effective when making a track selection, reducing the browsing time and frustration this may have caused.

Combined with USB input the Gateway lite makes your favourite music truly mobile, allowing you to carry you entire music collection in your vehicle, you no longer need the poor quality and probably illegal FM transmitters. Simply choose the Gateway Lite.

Dension are market leaders in iPod car kit integration. Their iPod car adapters provide better quality audio and track navigation and selection over any other kit on the market. Drive, Control, Charge and Play your iPod with Dension.

Once you’ve decided to purchase an iPod car kit, inevitably you’ve chosen the Gateway Lite produced by Dension. You only have one further obstacle to hurdle, the installation. There are two options available to you for installing the kit. The first option, Pay a professional engineer to install the kit, either travelling to them or they can travel to you. The second option, is to install the iPod car kit yourself. Which is by far the more cost effective option and probably most convenient too. See below an installation guide to judge whether your capable of the installation, should you choose to go ahead.

The installation of the Gateway lite is fairly simple and pain free. Although this is a generic installation guide, it will suit 99% of vehicles.

Before you begin the installation, please remove the keys from the ignition and check that any radio codes are recorded for future reference.

Step one is to remove your car stereo, this will usually involve radio removal tools which will vary depending on what vehicle you have. Radio removal keys are readily available and the majority of online shops or traditional vehicle based retail outlets stock them. Radio removal tools are extremely convenient and can save you a lot of time and energy. This should take between 1-5 minutes

Step two is to remove the harnesses from the back of the stereo, Most vehicles have a Quadlock connection, this is a fairly large connection block that houses the wires to and from the stereo. If the Harness is a Quadlock connection the Dension harness will usually replicate the original harness exactly. The Dension Lite harness simply fits into the vehicle harness and then back to the stereo, basically a link between the vehicle and the stereo.

If the vehicle doesn’t have a Quadlock connection, the gateway lite harness fits into the CD changer port on the the back of the stereo. Usually located in the top right of the stereo as your looking at the back of it. Most of the time the harness simply connects straight into place, however occasionally the harness may have to be connected into the original harness then re-connected. This stage should take 2 minutes.

Step three is to connect the Gateway Lite PCB (the little black box) to the dension harness, its the most straight forward step of the installation. This will take 30 seconds.

Step Four is to connect the iPod dock and USB extension cable to the PCB, again very straight forward. Once this stage is done its usually a good idea to turn ignition on to check the system works. (Follow the user manual to perform the operations for iPod/USB track selection) Again this will take 1-2 minutes.

Step five, Route the cables through into position within the vehicle, this is usually the most time consuming part of the installation. Depending on the vehicle this can be a complex job and may require the removal of some of the fascia / Dashboard. This part of the installation may take up to 30 minutes depending on difficulty, especially if you want a professionally installed look.

Step Six, replace the stereo into its fittings. Read the operational instructions from Dension and enjoy the use of your iPod car kit and all of your music while your driving.

The Gateway Lite is the latest in a long line of Dension iPod car Adapters. With each predecessor showing an increase in usability and functionality. Dension Gateway Lites predecessor the Gateway 100 was the most successful iPod kit in history. Offering a more advance track browsing system than any other kit on the market. However the complex nature of the 100 was ultimately its own downfall.

The 100 iPod kit offered track selection from the steering wheel controls / Stereo or the iPod, in which either artist, album or playlist could be selected. However the complexity of the gateway 100 system was not well suited to the majority of vehicles stereos, which cannot provide text support. This meant users would have to remember which combination of functions would enable iPod or stereo mode, and allow selections of tracks depending on browsing type, something that frustrated a lot of users.

The problem isn’t necessarily with the Dension unit, as the system works perfectly with text compatible radios. The problems occur when no text is available, and unfortunately most factory radios are not capable of displaying text rendering the gateway 100 kits difficult to use.

Dension have realised this problem and have improved the browsing system used in the new Gateway Lite. Dension designed the Gateway Lite specifically for none text compatible radios, and by doing so improved the browsing functionality by simplifying the track selection process.

Rather than the complex deep structured system in the Gateway 100, the lite is controlled via the iPod click wheel to browse through the iPod folders. Once the source is selected, tracks can be flicked through using the steering wheel controls for ease of use.

However the improved browsing functionality isn’t the only addition to the gateway lite, Dension have added a USB input into the system as standard. Enabling an additional 8 to 16Gb of music to be browsed through. Browsing through the USB drive is as simple as the iPod, CD button 6 selects the USB and 1-5 select Playlist, albums or artists.

In short Dension have yet again improved upon previous kits. Increasing the usability, simplifying the operations and adding additional source selections, you might think all these benefits come at a cost. You’d be wrong. The gateway lite is actually cheaper that the Gateway 100 and Gateway 300. The only downfall is that it doesn’t provide any text compatibility, however the this will never be available for those vehicles without CAN Bus systems.

More and more people are getting HD radio installed in their cars. The reception is better, the sound is clearer, and there is a wider variety of shows and stations to listen to. So, if you have already purchased an HD radio for your car – or if you bought a car with a HD radio already installed – why get an iPod car kit?
For one thing, with HD radio, the sound quality is improved over a normal radio but the sound will be poorer than an iPod kit; there are also commercials in between tracks. Sometimes the commercials are as often as every few songs, depending on the station. There is less static with HD radio compared to the standard FM or AM radio, but you can still have problems listening to stations; the station won’t fade out as quickly, but if you are too far from where the station is being broadcast, you won’t be able to hear it. This is especially a problem for people who often make long drives – searching for a new station every hour, because you’ve traveled outside of the previous station’s broadcast radius, can get pretty annoying. Obviously, neither the commercials, nor the geographical location, are a problem for someone who is listening to an iPod.

Even though HD radio has a greater variety of programming than regular radio, it can’t beat the variety of programming that can be found on podcasts, and played through your iPod. With an iPod, you can always choose what you want to hear; if a song comes on that you don’t want to hear, you simply fast-forward. No more flipping through stations hoping to find something you’ll enjoy; you have control over what you want to hear, anytime you listen.

The iPod is now more universal with the iPod Car Kit

Dension iPod car kits are a great option for those who want to be able to listen to their entire music library on-the-go. Dension has a variety of car kits available, ranging from a simple auxiliary cable, to an active dock which charges your iPod while it plays. Another popular model is the Dension ice>Link one, which works with virtually every vehicle, and plays your iPod via seven user-selectable FM frequencies. (Of course, with this model, getting great sound quality isn’t difficult to obtain, as its hard-wired connection into the radio aerial, and blocks out additional frequencies. The most popular and user-friendly models appear to be the Dension Gateway 100 and 300.